Advancements in communication technologies have permitted the introduction and popular usage of mobile communication systems and mobile communication devices operable therein. Such systems and devices provide communication mobility, generally permitting communications to be carried out using a mobile communication device from any place within the coverage area of a network part of the mobile communication system.
While early-generation, mobile communication systems generally provided for voice communications and provided only limited data communication capabilities, successive generations of cellular communication systems, incorporating successive advancements in technology, provide for increasingly data-intensive communication services. For many, mobile communication devices are now used, in large part, for their data communication capabilities, rather than merely for voice communications.
Additionally, advancements in circuit and processing technologies have permitted increased miniaturization of communication, and other electronic, devices. The miniaturization of such devices has permitted the packaging of such devices in a common housing, providing thereby multi-functional devices, capable of performing a plurality of different communication, and other, functions.
For instance, portable, mobile communication devices are commercially available, that, in addition to having capabilities for voice communication over traditional cellular or other carrier networks, also have capabilities for data communication over cellular or other carrier networks, wireless local area network capabilities (e.g., “WIFI”), GPS capabilities, a digital camera, specific software capabilities, such as social networking capabilities, as well as other device capabilities.
Multi-functional, portable mobile communication devices are sometimes used in a business, and other, enterprise. Aspects of the operation of, and control of, the mobile communication devices of the enterprises, are sometimes given to an IT (Information Technology) group of the enterprise. The IT group is encharged, for instance, with ensuring the operability of the mobile communication devices, security of communications with the devices, and attending to any of various other facets of communications with, and use of, the mobile communication devices. Some enterprises are very large, having large numbers of enterprise members to whom portable mobile communication devices are provided.
Policy settings are also assigned to the mobile communication devices. The policy settings set various operating parameters of the mobile communication devices. The operating parameters include parameters that control the operability of various components of the mobile communication devices, including hardware features, software features, applications, and the like. These operating parameters define the operating policy of the mobile communication device. For instance, a policy parameter identifies whether a digital camera component of the mobile communication device is operable. That is to say, the policy parameter is set, e.g., to permit the digital camera component to operate or to prevent digital camera component from operating as well as to define various operability aspects of the digital camera component, if permitted to be operable. WIFI operability, GPS operability, and social network software operability are additional examples of policies that are assigned to control the operability of components of a mobile communication device.
Particularly when large numbers of mobile communication devices are used throughout an enterprise, the assignation of policies to different enterprise members is difficult as the enterprise might want to assign different policies to different enterprise members. While enterprise members are sometimes categorized into enterprise-defined groupings, the enterprise members might be in more than one group. Conventionally, therefore, policy setting assignments to mobile communication devices operated by enterprise members generally are not a function of the members' enterprise-defined groupings.
It is in light of this background information relating to mobile communication devices and their associated policy settings that the significant improvements of the present disclosure have evolved.